The present invention is directed toward a towel washing and drying appliance and more particularly, toward such an appliance that washes, sanitizes, dries and warms one towel at a time and which is located at or near the bathroom.
Existing standard washers and dryers for towels use a large amount of energy and water. Energy is used in the hot water heater, the washer motor and pump, the dryer fan, motor and heating element. Also the air exhausted by the dryer is made-up from outdoors causing heating or cooling energy use by the building. A washer using an electric water heater and an electric dryer uses about 5 kilowatt-hours and about $0.50 per cycle. For 10 towels in a cycle this is ½ kWh or 5 cents per towel. A typical front load washer uses about 24 gallons per cycle. For 10 towels in a cycle this is 2.4 gallons of water per towel. Although the stated cost and water use may seem to be small amounts per towel, the frequency of towel usage per person results in large amounts for households and society as a whole. For households without access to in home washers and dryers the use of a compact, efficient and cost effective bathroom appliance to wash towels can save significantly more cost by reducing external laundry charges. For commercial applications (i.e. the hospitality industry) in addition to saving the cost of energy and water use, the appliance would save significant labor cost by removing towels from the laundry workload.
Prior inventions have been proposed to wash and dry towels in a single machine in an apparent effort to save time and money. U.S. Pat. No. 2,655,022 to Wells, for example, is directed toward a system for washing individual towels wherein the towel is first brought through a washing tank and then a rinsing tank before it passes by and electric heater for drying the same. A similar arrangement is shown in prior U.S. Pat. No. 3,110,974 to Paullus et al. which further includes an ultraviolet light for sanitizing the towels.
While both Wells and Paullus et al. present individual towels to a user, the towels are not actually removable from the apparatus. Rather, the towels are secured to a rod or the like that conveys them through the machine. The towel is merely exposed so that the user can dry his or hands or face. In neither system can the towel be removed so that a person can utilize the same to dry his or her entire body after a bath or shower.
There is, therefore, a need for an appliance that washes, sanitizes, dries and warms one towel at a time and allows the user to remove the towel from the apparatus to be used as a bath towel to dry his or her entire body.